On August 13, 2017, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Phoenix Field Division agents and Tempe Police Department detectives seized 30,000 fentanyl pills, during an enforcement operation against a Sinaloa Cartel-related drug trafficking organization. This is the largest seizure of fentanyl tablets in Arizona’s history.
The pills were discovered after a DEA enforcement operation led agents to request a traffic stop. A search of a vehicle led to the discovery of the fentanyl pills as well as a loaded handgun.
“This massive seizure removed thousands of potentially lethal doses of this powerful narcotic off the streets,” said Doug Coleman, Special Agent in Charge of DEA in Arizona. “DEA will never relent in its pursuit of Mexican cartels who manufacture huge quantities of fake oxycodone pills using fentanyl.”
The fentanyl pills, designed to look like oxycodone pills, were blue in color and stamped with “M” and “30,” similar to the counterfeit oxycodone pills DEA alerted the public to earlier this year.
Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid drug approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.
DEA Agents along with Tempe PD will continue their investigation into this criminal organization as part of DEA’s OCDETF Strike Force. This case is being prosecuted by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.